Threatening the Family of Filip Dewinter

Death threats are nothing new to Vlaams Belang leader Filip Dewinter, but the latest series also included his young daughter. A police investigation has resulted in the arrest of the “youths” responsible for these threats.

Our Flemish correspondent VH has prepared a report translated from several Dutch-language sources:

Filip Dewinter and daughter protected

On Wednesday a suspect who threatened Filip Dewinter and his daughter was arrested. That is what the newspapers Gazet van Antwerpen and Het Belang van Limburg reported Thursday. Police investigators remained close to the top politician of Vlaams Belang all day and night.

During the annual New Year’s reception held by Vlaams Belang yesterday evening there were a strikingly large number of uniformed officers present, along with plainclothes detectives from the police. Dewinter’s daughter was discreetly shadowed on her way to her school. This action made it clear that the police did not want to take any chances. This was because a young man, who had sent a threatening email to the daughter of Filip Dewinter, had chosen Wednesday, January 13th as his “day of action”.

On that day the politician would be murdered by means of a crossbow. Dewinter: “Moreover, also my daughter was threatened. The anonymous emailer let her know that she would be kidnapped. It is the first time one of my family members has been threatened. This is an alarming spike. This way everything becomes even more grim. When children are being involved…”

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The threats date from mid-December 2009. The suspect stated then that he would strike on January 13. The federal investigation took the matter very seriously, and removed the computer of Dewinter’s daughter for investigation on Thursday, because the double threat had arrived on that computer.

Via external mail traffic, the Computer Crime Unit of the Federal Police discovered the source: a family in the troubled Antwerp district of Borgerhout. There, a fourteen-year-old friend of one of the children of the family had sent the threats via email. He was arrested Wednesday along with his friend, the owner of the computer. Both young men were arrested and brought before the juvenile court.

This is not the first time that the politicians of the Vlaams Belang have been threatened, but it is the first time Filip Dewinter’s family have been involved in these threats. Dewinter receives a relentless stream of online threats, threatening emails and letters with bullets.

His car was molested twice during a television broadcast in Amsterdam.

During one of those TV shows, he was sprayed all over with a mixture of dung and ketchup. Two men threatened him in a rap song. Another man showed up in Dewinter’s office with a gun to murder him.

Update Friday, January 15:

The minor who via e-mail had threatened both Vlaams Belang politician Filip Dewinter and his daughter will not have to appear after all before the juvenile judge. According to the Antwerp public prosecutor it was a prank that got out of hand. He has to appear before the juvenile prosecutor, however, who must decide how the matter will proceed.

Sources: Gazet van Antwerpen; Nieuws.be.